A less typical Thanksgiving message...

What a perfect day to give thanks. Though you may expect me to share about why we should appreciate all the great things in life. Instead, I’d like to bring light to why it’s important to appreciate and honor the not so great things too.

This holiday of Thanksgiving is rooted in pain and suffering. The Native American people had no choice but to surrender their land to the European conquistadors. The natives honored and lived in harmony with the land and it was taken from them. As if the Earth belongs to any one people.

In history class some of us were taught that the Native Americans were savages, just as the Disney Pocahontas movie depicted. As if their lives were inferior to those who conquered them. As if one life is more important than the next. As if one culture is superior to the next. Somehow the interconnectedness between humanity was lost. Genocide washed blood all over this land.

Today trespassing against Native Americans continues. We see this happening today at Standing Rock. After all the pain inflicted on these harmonious people they were given small reservations to live on. Now even these lands are threatened to be taken from them.

May we send prayers to all people and lands on this day for peace and harmony.

Somewhere in our ancestral lineage, we belonged to a land with a specific culture and way of existing. For most of us, much of this has been lost to modern day living.

So today, of all days, let us honor and be grateful for our ancestors, all of those who walked before us, all the lives lost and betrayed so that we can be here today celebrating this day of Thanksgiving.

Let us also honor and be grateful for all people and their diversity.

Let us appreciate each other and all of humanity. May we love each other.

May all beings feel love and compassion. May all beings be happy and free.